In Berlin, the doors of Jewish houses were roughly painted with a six pointed star. On a London bus, an Orthodox Jewish man was punched in the face. In France, a famous Jewish politician received threatening letters.
Throughout Europe, the Holocaust that lasted for centuries almost wiped out Jews, and the surviving Jews are now facing a double blow. Firstly, there is the sadness and shock brought about by Hamas's attack on Israel, which breaks the assumption that Jews are at least safe in Israel and will no longer be subjected to attacks like in European history.
Mirna Funk expressed her fear of the rising anti Semitic sentiment in Germany.
The second blow was the increase in anti Semitic incidents during Israel's military campaign against this Islamic radical organization after the Hamas attack. According to the Community Security Trust, a Jewish organization that has been tracking anti Semitic activities since 1984, the UK has recorded at least 805 anti Semitic incidents since the Hamas attacks, setting the highest record for anti Semitic incidents in 21 days, surpassing the total of the first six months of this year. During World War II, Britain hosted many Jews who had fled the European continent.
Anti Semitic behavior in France, Germany, and other countries has also surged, including an incident in Berlin where a homemade incendiary bomb was thrown at a Jewish center with a synagogue and school. Prosecutors say that on October 24th, German police arrested a former Islamic State soldier who had served his sentence for joining the Islamic State on suspicion of planning to drive a truck into a pro Israel rally.
On Sunday, a group of thugs broke into an airport in the predominantly Muslim Republic of Dagestan, Russia. Hundreds of people waved Palestinian flags and rushed into the runway, searching for passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv, some of whom shouted anti Semitic slogans. Israeli officials stated that there were approximately 15 Israelis on the flight and no one was injured. The Muslim leaders in Dagestan condemned the incident. A Jewish center in a neighboring republic was set on fire.
The attacks by Hamas and the subsequent increase in anti Semitic incidents have led some European Jews to question whether they will be safe in Israel or Europe; In the centuries before World War II, the European continent had always been the center of Jewish life. Jewish people in Europe claim that they are not only facing anti Semitism from the far right, but also an increasingly strong sense of opposition arising from the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, which originates from both the far left and the growing Muslim population in Europe; Unlike the United States, the Muslim population in Europe far exceeds that of Jewish communities.
42 year old writer Mirna Funk is the mother of an 8-year-old child in Berlin. She said that many of her peers are considering immigration, but now people feel that even Israel is no longer safe. She said, "Where should we go
Funk said that anti Semitic slogans often appear at rallies around the world condemning Israel, from university campuses in the United States to Australia, which makes her very frustrated. Funk said she feels that anti Semitic sentiment is increasing in Germany, with some of the Muslim population coming from the country and she is afraid of it. Germany has a Muslim population of 5.5 million. In contrast, the Jewish community in Germany has a population of approximately 118000, with the majority being Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union after the end of the Cold War.
Anti Semitic behavior in Germany has increased, including an incident where a homemade incendiary bomb was thrown at a Jewish center in Berlin.
Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags in Berlin.
Anna Staroselski, the head of the German Union of Jewish Students, said she changed her name used on apps such as Uber to avoid being discovered as Jewish by drivers from the Middle East. At the age of 27, she said about the situation in recent days, "I've never been so scared in my life
Many Muslims also face prejudice. During periods of turmoil in the Middle East or after Islamic terrorist attacks, incidents targeting Muslims in Europe and other regions typically increase. For example, according to information from Tell MAMA, there were 400 incidents of anti Muslim bias in the UK between October 7th and 24th. Tell MAMA is an organization that tracks anti Muslim attacks.
The Muslim Council of Britain, representing British Muslims, stated that although Muslims and Jews may hold different views on events in the Middle East, these two groups share common values. A spokesperson refuted the view that anti Semitic attitudes are more common among Muslim communities than among the general public.
The spokesperson said, "Just as there are many rhetoric used to incite anti Semitic sentiment, there are also many negative and general statements about Muslims that contribute to Islamophobia. One theory is that Muslims are somehow born anti Semitic
Ben Judah, a senior researcher at the Atlantic Council, stated that European Jews have a strong interest in? Shi Shangtong cannot be described too much. According to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, headquartered in the UK, there were approximately 9 million Jews in Europe in the late 1930s, but now there are only 1.3 million, accounting for 0.1% of the total population in Europe. In contrast, there are approximately 6 million Jews in the United States, accounting for approximately 2% of the total population, which is 20 times that of European Jews.
Judah stated that many Jewish people in the United States immigrated before World War I, while Jewish people in Europe lost more relatives during the Holocaust and had closer family relationships with Israel. A higher proportion of Jewish people in Europe believe in Eastern Orthodoxy, which means that the clothes they wear highlight their religious beliefs, thereby increasing the risk of harassment.
Judah believes that Jewish people in Europe have to unite, while Jewish people in the United States do not need or need to achieve the same level of unity in this regard.
France is the largest Jewish gathering place in Europe, with approximately 440000 Jews. According to French Interior Minister G é rald Darmanin, since the Hamas attack, as of October 29th, French authorities have registered over 819 anti Semitic acts and arrested 414 people. These incidents include spraying Nazi logos next to Jewish institutions and harassing students outside Jewish schools.
Yael Braun Pivet, Speaker of the Lower House of the French National Assembly, reported the case to the police after receiving a letter threatening to behead her. This month, at a high school in the French Alps, a student was arrested on suspicion of shouting death threats against Jews during a memorial service to a teacher who had recently been killed by Islamic militants.
Yonathan Arfi, Chairman of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, said, "We know that it is only a matter of time before attacks are carried out due to Jewish identity." He said, "When there is a war in the Middle East, this is always the case
The threat of a resurgence has cast a shadow over the daily lives of French Jews. Daniel Marburger, who runs a Jewish pizza restaurant in Paris, said that after the Hamas attacks, his store's business has declined due to customers avoiding going out. Even when there was no violent conflict in Israel, Marburger would not wear a Jewish dome on the street because he was afraid of anti Semitism. He said, "There's no need to provoke others
Jews in France have long been targets of jihadist attacks, including the killing of three children and one rabbi at a Jewish school near Toulouse in 2012.
Wearing a printed skirt, the Speaker of the lower house of the French National Assembly, Ya ë l Braun Pivet, attended an Israeli unity rally held after the Hamas attack.
Jewish people in France have long been targets of attacks, with several incidents occurring, such as the bombing of a Jewish church in 1980 allegedly caused by pro Palestinian militants, and the killing of three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school near Toulouse in 2012. In 2015, an Islamic radical gunman took hostages at a Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris and killed four of them.
Benjamin Allouche, a member of the CRIF Executive Office, said that about nine synagogues and Jewish schools in the Paris region received bomb threats on Monday. He stated that some students were sent home on the same day, but no explosive devices were found.
A 2019 report by the European Union Agency on Fundamental Rights found that 89% of European Jews stated that anti Semitism had increased in their countries over the past five years. Nearly four out of ten people say they are considering leaving Europe as a result.
According to the Anti Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, anti Semitic incidents in the United States are also on the rise, increasing from 751 in 2013 to 3697 in 2022.
Anna Staroselski said she changed the name she used on apps such as Uber to avoid being discovered as Jewish by drivers from the Middle East.
Charles Small, director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anti Semitism and Policy in Miami, said that in the United States and Europe, the current hostility mainly comes from a rare combination of Islamic radicalism and the far left, both of which view Jews as white and Palestinian colonial oppressors.
Conservative Islam and the radical left in the West both oppose Western hegemony, believing that this Jewish state in the region is a typical manifestation of Western rule. This is a toxic combination, "he said.
In the United States, the Jewish population is almost twice the population of 3.5 million Muslim communities. The Muslim population in Europe reached 26 million in 2016, accounting for approximately 5% of the total population, at least 20 times the number of Jews. According to census data, the number of Muslims in Greater London is similar to the number of Jews throughout Europe.
A 2017 survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found that 12% of people in the UK harbor "profound ideological hatred" towards Israel, while 30% hold at least one view that Jews would consider anti Semitic. Among Muslims, this proportion is twice the above figure. A survey conducted by the American Jewish Committee in Germany in 2022 found that about one-third of Germans hold at least some anti Semitic views, and among Muslims in Germany, this proportion has risen to about half.
But Jewish people in Europe are now worried not only about the anti Semitic beliefs of some Muslims, but also that the longer many Muslims live in Europe, the more secular they become. Many Jews in Europe are also concerned about the lack of support from non Jews (including secular or Christian Europeans) for Jews after the attack.
American British newspaper columnist Hadley Freeman participated in a vigil outside the British Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street after the Israeli attack. She said it was difficult to find a non Jewish person in the event of hundreds of people. A few days later, tens of thousands of people held protests in support of Palestine and against Israel, with a much more complex ethnic composition participating in this protest. The subsequent pro Palestinian protests attracted 100000 people to participate.
Freeman said that in the liberal community in northern London where she resides, residents have quickly posted posters in support of other political ideas in the past few years, whether it's "black life is life" or the Ukrainian war. She said that after the recent attacks by Hamas, she did not see the Israeli flag in the region or on social media. She said it made people feel like 'Jews are really isolated and helpless'.